Miss Czech Republic Wins!

In a mild upset, Miss Czech Republic won the Miss World competition earlier tonight. The AP’s account of the contest is here; the pageant’s official site has more.

Here, the winner is crowned by the outgoing Miss World:

And here she is, shortly after:

Miss Romania was second:

THe Miss World contest has introduced a number of innovations, including a series of preliminary competitions (Miss Sport, etc.) whose winners automatically advance to the finals, grouping contestants by world regions, and permitting voting over the internet and by text message. It’s not hard to see that this is trending in the direction of reality TV, and, in fact, the Miss America pageant has officially transitioned to an “American Idol”-style format to pick the pageant’s fifteen finalists. At that point, though, the judges will take over.